M270 MLRS: The Killer Weapon Feared Most (See the Picture)
This artillery system is so effective that Iraqi soldiers surrendering to U.S. troops simply asked: No more steel rain.
Key point: Despite being created to fight the Soviets during the Cold War, the M270 has seen more usage in recent times and remains a key part of the U.S. Army s artillery force.
On February 24, 1991, the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm began. Over the next four days, the soldiers of an international coalition, formed to eject the Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein from the neighboring nation of Kuwait, carried out a whirlwind offensive that quickly overwhelmed their foe. During this time, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers were taken prisoner.
Richard D. Fisher, Jr. On Taiwan: It’s simple: Either we arm Taiwan or die trying
When Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) wakes up one morning and decides that his People’s Liberation Army (PLA) can win a war to conquer Taiwan, that is when his war will begin. To ensure that Xi never gains that confidence it is now necessary for the United States to shed any notions of “forbearance” in arms sales to Taiwan.
Largely because they could guarantee military superiority on the Taiwan Strait, US administrations from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama practiced “forbearance” pre-emptive limitation of arms sales to Taiwan in hopes of gaining diplomatic leverage with Beijing.
Created as an answer to the Cold War menace of the now-defunct Soviet Union, the M270 was never used against the Russians, but instead saw extensive and unexpected combat in the Middle East.
Steve Trimble answers: It is fair to say that the U.S. Army is on a missile-buying spree. Since the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in December 1987, the service’s missile inventory had been limited to the 300-km (186-mi.) range of the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System and 70-km range of the M-270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. But the U.S. and Russia withdrew from the treaty on Aug. 2, 2019, freeing the Army to fill the gap in its arsenal for ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with conventional warheads and ranges between 500-5,000 km.
The baseline version of the Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile will enter service in two years with a range of 499 km, but a follow-on version due to be ready in 2025 is expected to have a range up to 800 km. Moreover, the Army has selected the Raytheon SM-6 ballistic missile and UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile for a new ground-launched role, with ground-launched prototypes scheduled to debut in 2023.
The Army during the 2000s lagged behind its major rivals in artillery development.
Here s What You Need to Remember: Targeting could pose a problem for these far-away targets. According to Breaking Defense, the Army is working on artificial intelligence and wireless networks so its howitzers and rocket-launchers can receive target coordinates from the service’s own drones as well as from drones, spy planes and satellites belonging to the other armed services.
The U.S. Army just fired two 155-millimeter-diameter howitzer shells out to a distance of 40 miles.
The test shots at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona on March 6, 2020 signal the beginning of a major overhaul of the Army’s artillery.